State Controller Tom DiNapoli

There's nothing like presiding over the evaporation of $32 billion of the public's money to bring out the fiscal hawk in a politician. Case in point: state Controller Tom DiNapoli.

Formerly a full-throated supporter of New York's generous retirement benefits for government workers, DiNapoli is undergoing a change of heart by virtue of serving as sole trustee of the state pension system during the stock market meltdown.

The fund that's supposed to pay for the bountiful benefits is not nearly as fat as it once was. DiNapoli has had the displeasure of watching his accounts fall by, at last count, a whopping 21% - from $154 billion in March to $122 billion in December.

Those losses will force taxpayers to pour huge sums into the fund. And DiNapoli will be the one who delivers the bill in September 2010, two months before Election Day.

So he's suddenly open to scaling back pensions in ways that could soften the blow to New Yorkers' wallets. Ah, accountability to the voters.

"Obviously, given the way the markets are going, he believes everything should be on the table," DiNapoli spokesman Dennis Tompkins told us yesterday. "Everything should be looked at."

In fact, DiNapoli should be doing more than looking. He should be fighting side by side with Gov. Paterson and Mayor Bloomberg, who have proposed pension changes that would help close huge budget deficits.

Newly hired workers would have to contribute more to the pension fund and wait to retire at 62 instead of 55. They would still enjoy benefits far beyond what's generally available in the private sector. Workers already in the system would be untouched because their benefits are locked in.

Paterson says the changes would save $48 billion over three decades Bloomberg figures that just next year, the city would save $200 million.

The public employee unions - and their many lackeys in the Legislature - are fighting tooth and nail to block reform. DiNapoli, a former assemblyman, has a record of doing the same.

But now he's the taxpayers' watchdog, responsible for the rapidly deteriorating pension fund. If he made a strong case for reform, his ex-colleagues would have to sit up and pay attention. Duty calls, Mr. Controller.